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want to meet at fmd_good Corner Diner
want to meet at fmd_good City Market
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Finding Kanto's Hidden History?
honestly, if it's one of those old Meiji-era schools in Kanda or around Hongo, there's prob some wild stuff. I've heard about a few schools in that area having hidden bomb shelters from WWII that got sealed off and forgotten. some of the older groundskeepers might know where the old well is too, those are usually where the creepier stories live. ask around the local shotengai near the school, the old soba shop owners always have the best gossip
one thing nobody's mentioned yet is the air raid sirens. a lot of those old schools still have the original manual sirens mounted on the roof or in the belfry, they were used to warn students during wwii. some schools actually sound them once a year on march 10th for the tokyo firebombing memorial. if your friend's school is old enough to have one, ask if you can see the mechanism, they're these huge cast-iron crank things that feel straight out of a horror movie
depends on which ward the school is in tbh. if its in Bunkyo or Taito there's a good chance the building was designed by one of those foreign architects the Meiji government brought in, like Josiah Conder or someone from his office. those guys sometimes left their signatures carved into the foundation stones or hidden in the decorative tiles above the main entrance. its not exactly ghost lore but finding a little "JC 1910" scratched into the stonework is a pretty cool easter egg
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Where can I find crispy, pan-fried bacon similar to a certain international style?
if u have a costco membership the kirkland thick cut is the move, 4 packs of 500g for around 2500 yen and it crisps up proper in a cold pan. for smaller runs, precce in azabudai hills & the basement at isetan shinjuku both carry imported US & danish brands in the chilled case, just read the label for "thick cut" or "smoked" and not "loin". also worth knowing japanese bacon is often wet-cured so pat it dry before frying or it steams instead of crisping
kaldi coffee farm is hit or miss but their smoked bacon from denmark shows up pretty regular, the 200g pack runs about 600 yen. what actually works better for me is asking the butcher counter at peacock or life to slice the block bacon thick, like 5mm, they do it for free and it crisps way better than the pre-packed stuff. also fwiw cheap bacon crisps faster, the fatty supermarket kind at 300 yen a pack works fine if u cook it from cold in a dry pan and pour off the fat as it renders.
tbh the gyomu super store brand bacon is surprisingly decent for crisping up, its not thick cut but if you cook it low and slow it gets pretty crunchy. the key is the dry cure vs wet cure thing, wet cure steams. also check hanamasa if you have one nearby, they sell big packs of american style bacon thats actually smoked and firm.